“Under mounting pressure as tariffs threaten to drive up costs, US manufacturers in China are indeed packing up and heading elsewhere. Companies including Nike, Crocs, Roomba and GoPro are now producing most of their goods outside the country, having set up operations in Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Mexico. Dell, Sony, Nintendo and HP are reportedly considering such moves.

“But very few are moving back to the US.

“’Trump’s tariffs may have sent the message to ask US companies to consider reshoring, [but] very few will actually follow through,’ said Daniel Ikenson, director of the Centre for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a non-partisan think tank. ‘Making products in America has become too expensive.’”

Q On North Korea, sir. On North Korea, they apparently just launched their third missile in about a week. Is Kim testing you?

THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s very much under control. Very much under control.

This response is profoundly inappropriate. It will force Kim to escalate his actions, giving the US little wiggle room to respond. It also ignores the fact that short range missiles pose a serious threat to US allies, South Korea and Japan. President Trump is not exactly talking like a reliable ally to states under the serious threat of a nuclear attack.